Sunday, August 24, 2008

Roger Alton: Newspapers Not Dead Yet

I've just been MSNed by a friend who is in foreign parts. He says this blog has been namechecked by the Independent editor Roger Alton in the BBC Hardtalk programme. Being curious I just watched it online (HERE). The programme's thesis is that newspapers are finished and Alton was there to put the counterpoint. In his first answer he cites the fact that David Miliband wrote an article for the Guardian rather than place it on my blog or LabourHome as proof that newspapers are alive and well.

What a peculiar defence. If that's the best line of defence he can think of, maybe newspapers are in more trouble than I had thought.

20 comments:

Alton was very unconvincing in his defence of the world-wide fall in newspaper sales but did point out this phenomemon has not yet hit the UK. (I have to confess that I still like the feel and smell of a hard copy newspaper even though I will have already read the main headlines and comment sections online. There are always lots of other bits and pieces that fill up my frequent tea breaks!)

He came across as a pretty dodgy sort of character to me - pretending he did not have any input to the editorial line of his paper. Yeah!

News organisations might have a future, but not on paper. There's a bizarre ad running at the top of the Times website at the moment, urging you to subscribe to the Times and enjoy their writers for 20 per cent less.

Why should I? I can read it for free wherever I have access to the internet, which is at home, in my office, out and about with my laptop through wifi etc. And in a few years, it'll be universal.

And the ad is running on the Times website, which I'm reading for free. They're telling me how to get a cheaper Times on a free Times website...sorry, it just boggles my mind.

A mainstream programme that allows Marr's left-of-centre views to be "slipped in" without anyone (at the BBC noticing).

What I found most annoying was Marr at the Celtic/Rangers game, going "on the ground" but actually hiding being Police lines, no doubt because footage of him with football fans (on both sides) would have involved them giving him a piece of their minds.

When he went to Glastonbury however, Marr became a "man of the people", walking amongst some spaced out hippies, one of whom was shown giving him a spaced out hug (another ego trip for the "shy" Marr)

What a coward.

This was the man who, in the early days of NU Lab, was so far up Tony Blair's Arse you could only see his Big Toes.

Why do we put up with this (entertaining) Crap.

By the way if Marr is watching, Glastonbury does not represent a modern day "mini Britain" because there are NO muslims there.

Glastonbury is, in fact, the last vestiges of Britain's mono-culture, in all its glory. (So f off you c)

Splashitallover, cant you see? This is a warning that the Times website will be closing off its columns to all but fee paying subscribers.

That's what's happened to the Wall Street Journal. Patronage of news sites is what will happen in the future - and If I was forced to subscribed, I think I'd want the print newspaper itself as well. Not everyone likes looking at screens all day.

I don't think the UK broadsheets will necessarily go to subscription for online. Their online operations are only just profitable at the moment. If one went subscription, it would lose all its traffic to the others, and thus the online ad revenue.

More likely, they will continue to be free online (with more, and better-targeted adverts) but will cease massive print-runs of the loss-making paper versions.

The broadsheet newspaper in ten years' time will be like Vinyl records are today - available at a price for those who insist upon them, and as collectables, but not used for the mainstream consumer.

of course Blogs cannot replace Newspapers. Blogwriters are not, usually, journalists, they rarely investigate a story, only occasionally interview people, they cannot even cover the range of stories a daily newspaper can. Instead they are invariably a collection of opinions, often a rant, almost always so partisan that anybody reading them would think that they are straight out of party headquarters. Blogs are just one means of communication, sometimes ok, often not, they tend to appeal to a certain demographic (nerds and political obsessives). I think the newspaper industry has other bigger threats than the average blog.

No, not dead yet, Iain, but there will be contractions and the way things are done will change. The fissure between writing and production will be forced shut and people in production jobs will do far more multi media and digital stuff. There will also be fewer of them (me), since, clearly, original journalism is the thing that will give media organisations the edge.

The regional press already looks as if it is going the way of the US, with, in the Midlands for example, whole staffs being made redundant and told to reapply for fewer jobs.

For the nationals, the way forward isn't clear yet - but don't bet on The Telegraph model of appearing to stake everything on a digital futue.

Anyone who really thinks papers are finished should consider why the Murdoch titles have just invested in new print works, at Broxbourne and EuroCentral in Scotland. There's money to be made from papers and printing them for the simple reason that people like to have "hard copy" in front of them - it's a very different read from online. I expect we'll be having this discussion still in 15 or 20 years.

As a middle aged male with worsening eyesight, I much prefer reading backlit online text with clearer letters, to hard copy which I have to hold myself, and keep towards the light.

It is also easier to read in internet format than in newspaper columns, and faster to scan a piece using arrow keys....and quicker to find the topics you want online than turning over pages.

Printed media is for people stuck on trains - or who like reading advertisements.

Murdoch might be investing in new printworks just to drive costs down - not to expand output of newspapers.

Maybe he will sell spare capacity to other users of print.

The MSM are in trouble. Their audience is deserting, and like churches wondering how to win back their congregations, there is little they can do, as the internet advances and gives people what they are searching for cheaper, quicker and better.

While the papers continue to be various politicians mouth pieces they wont have my coin.Reporting the news without spin and investigating Government and Opposition without bias then I will pay till then forget it.